Football Federation Endeavours to Acquire HQs

The nation’s football federation is attempting to acquire a five-storey headquarter building for the fourth time. The acquisition would cost the federation over 70 million Br.

The Ethiopian Football Federation (EFF) has announced the bid last Sunday, July 8, 2018. The previous three attempts failed after the tender process was finalised and the Federation was about to make a deal with the sellers. This time, the Federation is attempting to buy a 200sqm building with enough parking spaces for 20 vehicles.

The finance for the procurement was secured from the Internationale de Football Association’s (FIFA), according to the Federation’s new President Esayas Jirra.

“Our current office is too small, and that is why we have tendered this bid now,” added Esayas.

The initial attempt was made two years ago. The first bid was interrupted because of FIFA’s late approval to sign the agreement for the bid winner in time. The Federation had to finalise the deal with a property owner and send the agreement to FIFA for final approval. This process delayed the project for eight months.

“By then the winner changed his mind to sell the building to the federation because property prices have increased,” said Juneidi Basha, who was president of EFF from October 2013 to June 2018.

The following two deals, including one involving the purchase of a six-storey building for 73 million Br, were cancelled as the property owners changed their mind when called to sign the agreement and transfer the property, according to Juneidi.

For the federation’s marketing director Esayas Tafesse, the need to acquire a building for Federation is beyond utilising the fund pledged by FIFA.

“We have to foresee what the future responsibility holds and also consider the wealth-maximising effort that should be undertaken by the Federation. That is why we need the building” the Marketing Director told Fortune.

The Federation’s move to establish a headquarter was celebrated, but setting priorities to develop the sport should be considered as well, according to Mekuanent Berhe, a Sports Journalist.

“The Federation should buy a cost-effective building,” Mekuanent told Fortune. “They need to save money and invest in developing the sports sector, seed some budget to regional offices and work on youth sports centres.”

The 75 years old Federation currently resides in a small five-room building, located around Kazanchis. Currently, the Federation is conducting a study to gain strategies to revitalise the organisation and management systems, according to the president of the Federation.

“We have assembled a team of academics experts and sports professionals to study the problems the Federation is facing,” Essays, president of the federation, said. “The study might take up to 55 days. Once finalised, They are going to report the findings to the Federation.”

The new executive members of the Federation took office last June, after a prolonged and controversial election which were cancelled by FIFA four times, consecutively.

When elected as the president, Esayas promised to solve the complicated problems of EFF by stepping on to an overdue and rocky situation.

Founded in 1943 and signed FIFA member in 1952, the organisation is responsible for all regulatory processes of all professional football leagues in Ethiopia. Currently, Ethiopia is ranked 124th in the world according to the FIFA World Rankings.